


At the Spiral's End

by KaraMergen



Category: Psycho-Pass
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-16
Updated: 2014-08-16
Packaged: 2018-02-13 09:36:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2145849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KaraMergen/pseuds/KaraMergen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a different life, they meet again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	At the Spiral's End

**Author's Note:**

> Happy birthday, Kou-chan! Here's a short reincarnation fic for you and your sociopathic boyfriend.

He is maybe thirty or so, barely older than Shinya himself, slender and vaguely androgynous like an actor from those old-fashioned theaters still found in some artistic districts; his hair is snow-white and his eyes are golden, something that is rarely seen in the United Republics of Asia even in this day and age. The man glances curiously at Shinya from under his long lashes and carefully puts the book back onto the shelf. "Interesting," he says with a small smile. "People don't visit this library all that often."

Shinya simply shrugs and finally pulls a hardcover edition of _The Old Man and the Sea_ from a neat row of Hemingway's novels. "Well, they say that paper books are sort of in vogue again, but I guess switching to them can be hard if you're used to holoreaders," he replies. "I mean, it does feel kind of weird when you can't just access the exact line you need, but…"

The man doesn't respond, and Shinya traces the embossed black letters on the cover with his finger. "I think they're nice. You know? I like how they even look different, all of them."

It sounds like an odd thing to say to a total stranger, but the white-haired man doesn't seem to mind: on the contrary, Shinya's answer causes his narrow golden eyes to brighten up a bit, though it might be just a trick of midday light. "Yes," he nods. "Kind of like people themselves, perhaps."

"Now that's a philosophical way of putting it," Shinya grins, though not in disagreement. The man tilts his head back a little, seemingly inhaling the smell of old paper. "Differences were what the Sibyl System strove to abolish, more or less," he continues. "Of course, that eventually led to its own demise, but… oh, are you interested in history at all?"

There is something strangely nostalgic about his straightforwardly inquisitive tone, something that Shinya can't quite pinpoint, unsettlingly familiar like a half-forgotten song, almost as if Japanese history is not what he is really asking about at all. "Yeah," Shinya answers slowly. "Say, by any chance, have we ever met before?"

"All people who read the same books know each other, in a sense."

This is either poetic or unspeakably pretentious, or perhaps both, and Shinya laughs in some kind of inexplicable relief. "I think we're making too much noise," he says in a softer voice. "Shall we continue it somewhere else? Like the Park of Martian Settlers?"

The man touches his chin thoughtfully, not offended by Shinya's sudden outburst of amusement. "How about the aspen grove, the one behind the old flash-train station? It's restoring itself nicely, and it doesn't look so… orthogonal."

It distantly occurs to Shinya that now would be the right time for them to introduce themselves, but something more important keeps flickering insistently in his mind, and they walk out of the main reading hall, with a space between them that no longer feels like much of a space.


End file.
